·Urgency needed after Minister admits ASF outbreak likely
within a year

Government expects ASF to hit the UK within a year

By Aidan Fortune, GlobalMeatNews

16-Sep-2019

The UK pig industry has called for more action to prevent
African Swine Fever (ASF) entering the country, following an admission by
government that it expects an outbreak within the next 12 months.

Responding to a letter from National Pig Association
(NPA) chairman Richard Lister, Farming Minister George Eustice explained the
current threat level for the disease that has decimated pig numbers in Asia.
Eustice said: “The UK risk level is currently set at medium, which means an
outbreak is expected within a year.”​

Eustice added that Defra and the devolved authorities are
actively working with UK Border Force to improve intelligence sharing and
detect and seize illegal imports and to raise awareness amongst travellers
about the risks of bringing in potentially infected animal products.

The NPA warned that more needs to be done to protect UK
borders. “If a Government Minister really thinks the virus will be here within
a year, it is patently obvious that more resource and effort is needed to keep
it out,”​ said NPA chief executive Zoe Davies. “And Border Force needs to
demonstrate that it understands the scale of the threat.”​

Davies questioned if the issue was being taken seriously
enough despite a poster campaign being announced earlier this year​. “We
are not seeing the posters being displayed with any consistency or prominence
at ports and airports and there has been little interest shown in helping Defra
to promote these crucial messages. ​

“The authorities in England are lagging behind the
Devolved authorities, which have been far more proactive in displaying posters
and checking baggage. For example, checks in Northern Ireland in June resulted
in the seizure of 300kgs of illegally imported meat and dairy products and the
worrying discovery of the ASF virus in sausages​. ​

“But in England, we haven’t seen any posters at all and
Border Force has stated that they do not intend to carry out targeted baggage
checks. There are also only two sniffer dogs deployed across the entire
country, which is woefully inadequate. We have called for more, but are told it
is too expensive.”​

The government estimates that an outbreak of ASF in the
UK would cost in the region of £90m however the NPA believes that this is quite
conservative, especially given the export market which is worth £470m a year...

Urgency needed after Minister admits ASF outbreak
likely within a year

The National Pig Association (NPA) has called for a more
robust approach amidst concerns UK Border Force was not taking the threat
seriously

Alex Black, Farmers Guardian (UK)

16 Sep 2019

Farming Minister George Eustice has admitted an outbreak
of African Swine Fever (ASF) was expected within a year with the National Pig
Association (NPA) urging Defra and the UK port authorities to take a more
robust approach.

Impact

NPA has warned an ASF outbreak would have a devastating
impact on the pig sector and the families and businesses which rely on rural
trade.

As part of a response to a letter from NPA chairman
Richard Lister, Mr Eustice said: “The UK risk level is currently set at medium,
which means an outbreak is expected within a year.”

He said Defra and the devolved authorities were working
with UK border force to improve intelligence sharing, detect and seize illegal
imports and raise awareness amongst travellers.

But NPA said it had seen little evidence policies were
being implemented with any rigour after Defra announced ASF messaging was being
stepped up.

Chief executive Dr Zoe Davies said NPA did not think the
border force was taking it seriously enough.

“We are not seeing the posters being displayed with any
consistency or prominence at ports and airports and there has been little
interest shown in helping Defra to promote these crucial messages,” she said.

She added English authorities were lagging behind the
devolved nations which had been much more proactive in displaying posters and
checking baggage.

“For example, checks in Northern Ireland in June resulted
in the seizure of 300kgs of illegally imported meat and dairy products and the
worrying discovery of the ASF virus in sausages,” she said.

But in England she said they had seen no posters and the
border force has said it did not intend to carry out targeted baggage checks.

“There are also only two sniffer dogs deployed across the
entire country, which is woefully inadequate. We have called for more, but are
told it is too expensive.